


Ocean Front Property and Yoda Wisdom

by Diary



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Bisexual Theo Raeken, Conversations, Established Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Family, Frenemies, Inspired by Music, Love, M/M, POV Theo Raeken, Post-Canon, Romance, Theo Raeken Loves Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken-centric, Werecoywolf Theo Raeken
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 04:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20285053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diary/pseuds/Diary
Summary: Post-canon. Theo has issues, Stiles cares about Liam, and these facts interconnect. Complete.





	Ocean Front Property and Yoda Wisdom

Theo’s waiting for his to-go order when Stiles sits down next to him.

“Liam’s not going to be happy when he finds out you’ve skipped town.”

He shrugs. “No reason to stay. Unless, of course-”

“I still don’t like or trust you. Okay, I never will. But you’ve been good for him. And I gotta admit, seeing you in love is an interesting thing.”

“I don’t love Liam.”

It’d be beneficial to convince the others, convince Liam, he does, but going near the McCall and Hale packs was the biggest mistake he ever made. His best bet is getting away from them all.

Stiles scoffs. “You’d have an easier time trying to sell some ocean front property in Arizona, buddy.”

“I can’t love, remember? I’m heartless. A sociopath.”

His heart beats too fast, is too warm in his chest, aches when he sees Liam, but it’s just lust. Some respect and admiration mixed in.

“I used to think that,” Stiles quietly says. “You know, my mom tried to kill me. Not like your sister might have kept taking your heart in whatever place Kira sent you to. I mean, my mom legitimately tried to kill me once when I was little. The disease.”

He considers what to say. On some level, he is sorry.

Liam had asked about his real parents once, and he’d told the truth: They’re dead.

Liam hadn’t asked, ‘Did you kill them?’, and part of him wishes Liam would.

Of course, he still isn’t sure what answer he’d give if Liam ever does. He can’t lie to Liam; literally, despite potentially being able to in the past, now, he’s unable to control his vitals and chemo signals when he tries lying.

This might change someday.

The truth is: It’s another thing the doctors lied about. They killed his parents after promising they’d leave them alone.

They’d promised they’d bring Tara back, too, but this is something he’ll probably never say to anyone, especially Liam.

“She said I was evil. Heartless. A demon.” Stiles lets out a small chuckle, dark, sardonic, and if he didn’t know how much it’d further hurt Liam, he’d give getting something physical out of Stiles one last try before leaving town.

“And for a long time, even with how much I loved my dad, even with knowing I actually would do almost anything for Scott, even with how much it made me happy every time I saw Lydia was happy, I believed it. If you end up screwing us all over again, I’m calling the fact I called it. That everyone should have listened to Scott and Malia when they were arguing for you to be sent back. That I would have argued for it if I’d been around.”

“You’re welcome, by the way, for the help I gave them in getting you and this whole town back,” he says.

Stiles shrugs. “But the thing is, I love Liam, too. He’s family. I’m still not quite clear on how packs work, but I imagine me and him might be pack, too. And if there’s any chance at all that I am wrong, then, I don’t want him hurt because of you believing something that isn’t true.”

“Really? I’d think it’d be the opposite. You’d rather he be hurt now by my leaving as opposed to him being hurt later by me doing something that could also hurt you and all the others, too.”

“I’d rather no one be hurt.”

“Yeah, well,” he sprawls out, “I definitely will if I stick around.”

Stiles voice has a quiet firmness when he says, “Then, don’t come back. If you’re going to do the things we’ve warned Liam about, be who I think you really are, then, yeah, get the hell out of this town, and don’t even look back. For years, I believed what my mom said, and after Scott was bit, believing that caused me to do some things that I’ll always regret.”

“Gerard, for all he was evil incarnate, he did say something once that I don’t completely disagree with. You get up once, there’s an expectation you’ll keep getting up. If you’re not going to, what’s the point of even getting up the first time?”

“Sounds like something Derek might say, too,” he comments. “Uh, genuinely curious here: How does that in any way apply to this situation? I’m not running from anything. I haven’t been metaphorically or literally wounded.”

His order is called, and he goes to get it.

Waiting by the door, Stiles squeezes his shoulder. “Do or do not, there is no try. Either you left behind some of the worst parts in that place Kira sent you, or you didn’t. Either you’re going to try your best not to hurt Liam, or you’re just going to decide which way you’ll hurt him. Eventually, you’re going to prove me either right or wrong once and for all about you.”

“I’d forgot how much you liked Star Wars. After you rigged the votes for movie week in second grade, though-”

“That’s never been proven.” Stiles holds open the door.

…

After he eats his food, he decides he hasn’t made a decision yet.

The option to leave is still firmly on the table.

He goes to Liam’s house, and Mrs Geyer opens the door. “Hi, Theo.”

“Ma’am.” He takes off his shoes.

“Liam, baby, your boyfriend’s here,” she calls. “Are you staying the night?”

“No, ma’am.”

The Geyer guestroom is much more comfortable than the group home Sheriff Stilinski got him into, but it turns out that Mrs Geyer will wake up in the middle of the night to make sure her son is sleeping alone in his own bed.

He’s not sure Mrs Geyer doesn’t do this on nights he doesn’t stay, but since Liam feels guilty and worries about his mom not getting enough sleep, he only stays over when Mason does, too.

“There’s leftover macaroni pie, chicken, and mashed potatoes in the fridge.”

“Thank you, but I already ate.”

Liam appears, and he wishes his physical heart had stayed with Tara.

It’s not just lust. As good as Liam looks, all he can really think about is how good it’ll feel if Liam wraps around him in Liam’s bed.

He held Tracy once, and it was nice, but pain at the realisation she’s dead and it’s largely his fault always taint the memory. Aside from her, Liam is the first person who’s held him and been held by him since he was nine-years-old.

“Hey.” Liam presses a quick kiss against his lips before grabbing his hand. “I know, door open, Mom.”

…

In Liam’s room, Liam tugs him down onto the bed, and just as he starts to get lost in their kisses, Liam pulls away to look down at him. “Hey. You okay?”

This is one advantage he’d have over Stiles: Stiles isn’t a shifter, too.

“Yeah.”

Easing down, Liam wraps his arms around him, and nosing at a pulse point in his neck, he asks, “You sure?”

_I was planning on leaving Beacon Hills_, almost comes out.

He still might.

“I do feel guilty. For the things I’ve done.”

Lifting himself back up, Liam looks at him for a long moment. “What’s brought this on?”

He shrugs. “Maybe I deserve it, but I have issues. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

Whatever he was expecting, Liam nodding takes him by surprise.

Wrapping back around him, Liam says, “I’m here. If you want to talk, if you just need someone, I’m here. What you did to me and the others, I’m over. And whatever else you did, well- I don’t know. But I’m here. It might be different, but I’ve done stuff, too.”

Part of him feels as if there might be hope, feels warm, feels devoid of guilt and shame, and part of him is even more terrified than when he was a nine-year-old orphan being held captive by magical doctors who’d made him part animal.

Making a decision, he takes a deep breath, and then, he lets himself start talking.


End file.
